Uncle Wiggily's Adventures eBook

“Now, I’ve got you!” cried the owl.
“I was just wishing some one would come along,
and you did. Some of my friends are coming to
tea this afternoon, and you’ll do very nicely
made up into sandwiches.”

Wasn’t that a perfectly dreadful way to talk
about our Uncle Wiggily? Well, I guess yes!

“Now you’re here, make yourself at home,”
went on the owl, sarcastic-like, as he locked the
front door and put the key in his pocket. “Did
you see the sign?”

“Yes,” said Uncle Wiggily, “I did.
But I don’t call it fair. I thought I would
find my fortune in here.”

“The sign says you’ll be surprised, and
I guess you are surprised, aren’t you?”
asked the owl.

“Yes,” answered the rabbit, “very
much so. But I’d rather have a nice surprise
party, with peanuts and lemonade, than this.”

“No matter,” said the owl, snapping his
beak like a pair of shears, “here you are and
here you’ll stay! My friends will soon arrive.
I’ll now put the kettle on, to boil for tea.”

Well, poor Uncle Wiggily didn’t know what to
do. He couldn’t look in his valise to see
if there was anything in it by which he might escape,
for he had dropped the satchel outside when the owl
grabbed him, and he only had his barber-pole crutch.

“Oh, this is worse and worse!” thought
the poor old rabbit.

But listen, Johnnie Bushytail is outside the owl’s
house, and he’s going to do a wonderful trick.

As soon as he saw the door shut on Uncle Wiggily,
that brave squirrel boy began to plan how he could
save him, and the first thing he did was to gather
up a lot of acorns.

Then he perched himself in a tree, right in front
of the owl’s door, and Johnnie began throwing
acorns at it. “Rat-a-tat-tat!” went
the acorns on the wooden panels.

“Ha! Those must be my friends!” exclaimed
the bad owl, opening the door a little crack so he
could peek out, but taking care to stand in front of
it, so that Uncle Wiggily couldn’t slip out.
But, of course, the owl saw no one. “It
must have been the wind,” he said as he shut
the door.

Then Johnnie Bushytail threw some more acorns at the
door. “Pitter-patter-patter-pit!”
they went, like hailstones in an ice cream can.

“Ah, there are my friends, sure, this time!”
thought the owl, and once more he peered out, but
no one was there. “It must have been a tree
branch hitting against the door,” said the owl,
as he sharpened a big knife with which to make the
sandwiches. Then Johnnie threw some more acorns,
and the owl now thought positively his friends were
there, and when he opened it and saw no one he was
real mad.

“Some one is playing tricks on me!” exclaimed
the savage bird. “I’ll catch them
next time!”

Now this was just what Johnnie Bushytail wanted, so
he threw a whole double handful of acorns at the door,
and when the owl heard them pattering against the
wood he rushed out.